Propagated Fish in Resource Management

Preface

doi: https://doi.org/10.47886/9781888569698.fmatter

The use of propagated fishes has been a fisheries management tool for North American resource managers for more than a hundred years. During that time, the roles of propagated fish have been deemed to be important for addressing and enhancing opportunities to improve recreational fishing and restore depressed fish populations. However, over the last 30 years, some of these roles have been challenged as being risky and have thus been under careful scrutiny. The American Fisheries Society (AFS) proceeded to examine emerging issues dealing with the risks and benefits of fish stocking practices. And the Fish Culture and Fisheries Management Sections responded by conducting a symposium to answer the question “Fish Culture—Fish Management’s Ally?” Accordingly, the first of three major symposia directed at this issue took place in 1985, at Lake of the Ozarks, Missouri. It was titled “The Role of Fish Culture in Fisheries Management.”